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To: JDN who wrote (35418)	9/17/2000 3:46:23 PM
From: rudedog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

JDN - what Lotus recommends - 1- wash the car with a non-detergent soap - they recommend "Murphy's oil soap". Rinse. 2 - wash with a shampoo which contains no conditioner (I'm not kidding!). Johnson's baby shampoo recommended. 3 - rinse twice. 4 - chamois dry. I don't know why it works, but the car looks the same as when it came off the showroom floor. I have seem paint work this good at custom car shows but with the exception of a couple of other high end British cars (Aston-Martin does pretty nice paint also, as does Rolls-Royce) I have not seen cars on the street with this level of finish.

To: JDN who wrote (35418)	9/17/2000 4:07:53 PM
From: rudedog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

JDN - OT the application of the paint itself is pretty cool. I went to the Lotus factory and watched the process. It starts with the base body components, which are race-car class carbon fiber construction. These are covered with a "gel coat" which is allowed to cure for 30 days. The gel coat is then hand sanded down to 1200 grit to take out any surface imperfections. Then 3 coats of primer, each sanded to 1200 grit. Each coat is allowed to cure for a week before sanding. Then 5 color coats - this is the air-catalyzed paint. BTW, the "catalyzation" happens in the air between the gun, which has 2 heads, and the car, and is over in about a minute. Those coats are allowed to cure for about 8 hours, and are hand finished to 2000 grit - which to my untrained hand was about as rough as a sheet of fine writing paper. Then the car is finished with 3 clear coats of air-catalyzed paint, each handled the same way as the color coat. The finished paint is allowed to cure for a week, then it is polished. I could not find a single blemish, orange peel or other imperfection anywhere on the car, even inside the engine compartment.